^, ^^««»/»iA>- -13- 



In some cases growers are attempting to lower the tree height in one year and v'o /»wC 

 ar# hot leaving enough branches or water sprouts to shade exposed limbs. Such a 

 procedure results in considerable sunscald. If a tree has a number of tall branches, 

 all of these should not be removed in one year. Remove over a 2 or 3 year period. 



One of the objectives of lowering tall trees is to replace old wood on the 

 remaining limbs with young, vigorous fruiting wood. Some growers have left too U-rr-^ f*^ 

 many water sprouts which are poorly placed. These water sprouts are in a key ~^'^*t^ 

 position to receive the water and nutrients that otherwise would go to the pai^nt 

 scaffold branch. If too many of these water sprouts are left they may dwarf the 

 parent branch beyond their point of origin. Growers- should remove all but the 

 most desirably located vrater sprouts. It is the hope of the grower that as the ^^ 

 water sprouts develop side branches they wilT settle toward the outside of the ^''^ 

 tree. Sometimes the water sprouts can be trained toward the outside of the tree 

 by removing some of the inside branches or by heading back to an outward grovring 

 lateral branch. 



Another error made in pruning bearing apple trees, especially \vith power prun- 

 ers, is the removal of nearly all the smaller lateral branches from the scaffold 

 limbs in the central part of the tree ,' The process begins near the trunk and 

 often continues nearly to the ends of the scaffold limbs. The fruiting area then 

 consists merely of a fringe at the ends of these "muletailed" branches. This 

 makes any attempt to lower the tree height difficult because of possibility of 

 sunscald and lack of desirable wood to cut back to. In addition, when pruning 

 bearing trees the drooping ends of branches should be headed back to upward and 

 outward groviring branches. If nearly all the smaller branches on the nain limbs 

 have been removed, there may be no good upvirard and outward growing branches left 

 to take over* 



\^. J, Lord 



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